Trial delayed 6 months in Topeka slaying

TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) — The trial for the last of nine defendants charged in a 2011 homicide in Topeka has been postponed six months.

The trial for 24-year-old Michael “K.C.” Wilkins will be Feb. 3. Wilkins’ trial had been scheduled to start July 29. Defense attorney Mark Bennett sought the continuance because he said he hadn’t yet received all the evidence in the case.

Wilkins is charged with two alternative counts of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 40-year-old Natalie Gibson. He’s also faces charges including aggravated robbery for wounding another woman.

Nineteen-year-old Jimmy Netherland has been sentenced to life in prison plus 114 months in the case. Prosecutors say the women were shot during an attempted robbery at their home.